Sales Tax Audit

    The Holbrook City Council voted unanimously recently to hire a company to conduct a sales tax audit. That action has created some comment in the community.
   It should be noted that the audit will have both educational and enforcement goals. Some people may not be aware they should be charging city sales tax. The company will bring it to their attention that they are subject to the tax.
   While the city has had the sales tax ordinance for many years, some provisions may not be as well known as they should be. The audit will help close those loopholes. These situations may involve the rental or sale of property.
   There are some businesses that are subject to the tax, but they may not be completely aware of the pro-visions. This could apply to contractors, where there may be a gray area, where the tax may apply to por-tions of the sale, but not the rest.
   In other cases, some businesses may have been collecting the tax, but not remitting it. This is difficult to understand. If businesses collect the tax, what do they think they should do with it? They are not entitled just to keep it.
   Whatever the circumstance, the audit will help provide a level playing field for everyone. Most busi-nesses, of course, have complied with the law and have nothing to worry about.
   The city has made it clear that no one is likely to go to jail for failure to collect and remit the sales tax they should have collected in the past. The city will have a lenient payment policy, allowing people to get caught up with their payments over a period of time.
   A few people have argued that this is not the time to conduct an audit, but they fail to say when it would be more appropriate. It seems to me that the law is the law and it should apply to everyone equally.
   No one likes to collect and pay taxes, but it is a reality we have to face. Doing less would favor a few at the expense of everyone else.